Gangsters leave their mark at Spes Bona

Cape Town - 130520 - Pupils and staff at Spes Bona High School were greeted by a 'tag' right outside their gate from the Fancy Boys gang. The Athlone school reported a "drastically" high absenteeism rate after a matric pupil was shot in the head last week. Three men stormed into the school and shot Glenrico Martin in the head. Martin died in Groote Schuur Hospital on Wednesday. The shooting was believed to be gang-related. PICTURE: DAVID RITCHIE

Cape Town - Gangsters left their mark at the gates of Spes Bona High School in Athlone despite a campaign by police and the Department of Education to persuade parents that their children were safe.

As pupils filed in to school on Monday, a janitor was removing the insignia of the Fancy Boys, a Manenberg gang, from the pavement.

Last week, a 19-year-old matric pupil, Glenrico Martin of Manenberg, was shot and killed on the school grounds in front of dozens of other pupils. The next day half the pupils did not arrive at school, and by yesterday about 20 percent were still absent.

On Monday, Wilston Stoffels, 18, and Jevon Snyman, 19, appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court facing a charge of murder.

The case had been moved from Athlone to the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court, and postponed to May 27 for a bail application.

Security at the school has been stepped up.

* The side gate allegedly used by the suspects to gain access has been locked until further notice.

* Access control has been set up at the main gate where CCTV cameras are recording during school time.

* A security guard is patrolling on around the campus.

* Police vehicles are patrolling the Bokmakierie area.

Education MEC Donald Grant yesterday praised Spes Bona principal Abu Solomons for the work he had done to secure the school.

But Hanif Loonat, the provincial Community Policing Forum’s chairman, warned the appearance of gang insignia so soon after a murder at the school needed to be taken as a serious “message” and a “potential threat”.